Free agency in the NFL officially begins this afternoon. Our Vikings writers have you very well covered, including today's story on potential targets for the purple once the frenzy begins. We don't have a ton to add to that, except this:

Looking at the likes of Vincent Jackson, Brandon Carr, etc. -- essentially the top crop of potentially available WRs and DBs -- a team like the Vikings is at a distinct disadvantage. A free agent who can get paid and go to a winning team, which we would imagine represents the cream of the crop like Jackson and Carr, would not likely be inclined to go to a 3-13 team.

The next tier of FAs -- those who are more likely to have to choose between taking less money to play for a winner or taking more money from a desperate team -- can be a real roll of the dice and can end up really hampering a rebuilding team's salary cap if they don't work out.

So the Vikings can think big. They have $23 million in cap room, and they aren't as far removed from success as other franchises. But making a big splash at a key position, while also paying a fair price, seems like a difficult proposition in our book. It will be interesting to see how the Vikings approach things and what they are able to do.

Newer Post

Michael Rand started RandBall with hopes that he could convince the world to love jumpsuits as much as he does. So far, he's only succeeded in using the word "redacted" a lot. He welcomes suggestions, news tips, links of pure genius, and pictures of pets in Halloween costumes here, though he already knows he will regret that last part. Follow @randball on Twitter.